An Alternative Resolution
by AVampireBride
Summary: Rose makes a different decision in the lifeboat.


Author's note: This story was written for Ivana! As it were, I got her name again at the Titanic forum for Secret Santa this year, like I did last year. So this story is her Christmas gift! I hope you enjoy it, babe. =D Its not going to be historically accurate but oh well. Its fiction! I tried to do a different type of Titanic story then I normally do, so I hope I succeeded. I haven't written Titanic fics in such a long time I'm not sure how it turned out!

* * *

"I'm not going without you," Rose told him. She couldn't. It was absolutely absurd. In the few short days they had been together, he had become her whole world.

"Get in the boat, Rose," he demanded. Why was she being so stubborn? He couldn't live with himself if something were to happen to her. Rose was Jack's soul mate, and he knew it the moment their eyes locked that first day aboard the ship.

"Yes, get on the boat, Rose."

That voice. It was the name of the monster she almost married. Rose and Jack both looked up in shock as her former fiancé, Caledon Hockley, appeared out of the crowd with his man, Lovejoy, in tow. Rose took a tentative step towards Jack. He moved closer to her. There was no way Hockley was going to take her away from him. Cal looked Rose up and down as she stood there shivering in her wet dress and the blanket that had been wrapped around her shoulders.

"My God, look at you! You look a fright," Cal told her. "Here. Put this on. C'mon."

Hockley pulled off the blanket Rose was gripping around her shoulders. She wouldn't have cared if she had the coat or not. She was already frozen and numb. He shrugged off his over coat and put drew it over her shoulders. He ran his hand over her hair like he really cared. To put on a show. Jack grabbed Rose and moved her backwards away from Cal.

"Go on," Jack insisted. "I'll get the next one."

Rose was mortified he would even suggest such a thing!

"No! Not without you!" she cried.

"I'll be all right. Listen, I'll be fine. I'm a survivor, all right? Don't worry about me. Now go on, get on." Jack persisted even more.

Cal watched the two of them, his stomach churning at the thought of the two of them together. He stepped forward.

"I have an arrangement with an officer on the other side of the ship. Jack and I can get off safely. Both of us."

Jack stared at Caledon Hockley for a moment, knowing the truth, but turned back to Rose.

"See?" He agreed for Rose's sake. "I got my own boat to catch. Go."

"Come on, hurry. They're almost full," Cal reminded them.

Officer Lightoller turned around and grasped Rose by the elbows, directing her towards the boat before she could say another word. She heard another "go" from Jack.

"Come on, hurry," the officer demanded. Another officer assisted Rose into the lifeboat he was standing in. All around them passengers were saying their goodbyes, not wanting to go, assuring the others already in the boats they would see them soon, they would be in another boat.

Once aboard the lifeboat Rose spun about and reached out for Jack's hand. He was right there all along and caught her's in his. Jack was her lifeline. If she let go she was afraid she would never see him again. She was terrified she couldn't go on without him with her. She grasped Jack's hand with all the strength she had left in her.

Then the officers pulled them apart.

"Move away from the rail, please," Lightoller requested. "Lower away!"

This was it. A sudden jolt and she was being lowered away from Jack. She kept her eyes directly on him the entire time but she knew Cal was staring at her, willing her to make eye contact with him. Standing at the rail above her were two men. One whom she never wished to see again, and the other of whom she could not live without. It is as if time was standing still and everything was moving in slow motion. She neither heard a word nor a sob from the fellow passengers around her. Nothing mattered now but instilling Jack's perfect face in her mind. The ropes wound about the pulleys as the seamen aboard the magnificent masterpiece lowered Rose ever further away from Jack.

* * *

Still aboard the ship, Hockley couldn't help but rub salt into Jack's wounds.

"You're a good liar," he commended.

Jack threw a sideways glance at Cal before saying "Almost as good as you."

They were both quiet for a moment, listening to Lightoller directing his crew at the davits.

"There's no…. there's no arrangement is there?" he questioned.

"No, there is." Hockley admitted. "Not that you'll benefit much from it."

Once again, the two men made eye contact.

"I always win, Jack. One way or another. "

Reality washed over Jack again. He knew he wasn't going to get on a lifeboat. He knew Caledon Hockley would find some way to survive. The man was a stubborn bastard who always got what he wanted. Jack also knew he had to fight to stay alive. If he didn't the jerk next to him would some how get Rose back and force her to marry him.

* * *

The only thing Rose heard was the blood pounding through her ears. She saw Lightoller, his lips forming the shape of his directions but she could not hear him. She could not hear the sobs of the women and children around her, crying out for a loved one still on Titanic.

'This can not be happening…' she thought. But she knew it was. Titanic was sinking and along with it her dream of somehow getting away from Caledon Hockley. Another rocket burst in the sky, a halo of light outlined her angel at the rail. Jack… his name on her lips felt like heaven to a man who had not seen the sun in years. A slight breeze moves her hair about as she gazed up at him. He seemed to be getting further and further away. Suddenly an unbearable searing pain ripped through her. The pain felt like it would rip her heart out. The sight of Jack's had resting on the rail, trembling, is too much for her. She was no longer successful at holding back her tears and let them rush down her face. How had it come to this? She had just found him, just admitted to herself that he was what she really wanted, gave herself to him, and now this. Already Jack was being taken away from her. She couldn't stand to watch Jack any more, and buried her face in her hands.

* * *

The current lifeboat under his charge was ¾ of the down in its descent before Lightoller recognized a horrible mistake he had made. The lifeboat didn't have enough men aboard to row. He couldn't expect the women and children aboard the boat to do it.

"Halt!" Lightoller shouted at his seamen lowering the lifeboat. "Halt the boat!"

Lightoller turned to the crowd. A able-bodied-looking young man stood right behind him, staring into the night. He looked like he could row a box.

"You there! Do you have any sea experience?"

Jack looked up, astonished.

"M-m-me?" he stuttered.

"Yes, boy, you."

"I've had a bi-"

"Perfect! Shimmer down that there rope and give the officer a hand, will you?"

"But I--"

"Go, boy!"

Caledon Hockley stared in disbelief as Jack Dawson received his one way ticket off the sinking palace. He watched as Jack carefully climbed onto the rail and reach for the rope. On the other side another gentleman was already on his way down the ropes. Cal stepped forward and offered his assistance.

"No, thank you, sir, we have enough help now," Lightoller told him. Cal drew back into the crowd with Lovejoy, angered that someone turned him down. He was used to getting what he wanted. He was Caledon Hockley, after all.

"We have a deal," Cal reminded the officer.

"And so it shall play out, but for now, sir, we have enough seamen! Step away from the rail."

Jack observed this exchange with a close eye. He gripped the rope tightly with his hands and wrapped his legs around it. He'd done this several times before in his dad's barn back on the family farm when he was a youngster. He began his descent to the lifeboat, carefully shimming down the rope, trying not to get rope burn.

Jack's stomach was fluttering with butterflies. For a several long minutes he thought he would most likely never see Rose, the true love he sought for so long, again. Every moment he slid closer to her. He looked for her in the boat.

About ten feet above the boat, Jack lost his grip on the roping. The crew aboard the doomed ship already began lowering the boat once more. He tried to grasp at something, anything, but he couldn't reach. He plummeted towards the freezing black water below. Screams came from above and below him. After what felt like forever, Jack came into contact with the oars in the middle of the lifeboat. He landed roughly on his left arm. Jack heard a loud crack and someone wail his name extremely loudly. Then his world went black and Jack couldn't feel anything.

* * *

Rose was lost in herself, deep in her misery, when a loud thud brought her back to reality. The lifeboat she was in gently swayed to and fro for a few moments before descending again to the dark, freezing water. Rose raised her head from her hands to gaze about her. What on earth had made such a noise? A body lay on the oars in the middle of the lifeboat awkwardly on his left side. Her eyes ran up and down the man. He wore an all too familiar white shirt and pair of low quality slacks. Metal shackles were around his wrists. Was it… could it be… how?

"Jack!" Rose wailed when she released he was motionless and bleeding from a large cut on his forehead. She scrambled over the seats and amongst the passengers to the man she loved more then anything else in this world. She took his head carefully into her lap and examined the large gash on his head. It bled profusely. The girl next to her noticed this and ripped a fragment off the bottom of her nightgown. She handed the piece to Rose.

"Here, miss. Use this," she offered.

"Thank you," Rose received the fabric from the girl. Very tightly she wrapped it around Jack's head and pressed down with her hands so the bleeding would stop. She had already very nearly lost him once, it wasn't about to happen again.

Once the small boat hit the water, the ropes were pulled loose and the other crewmen began rowing as far away from the ship as they could possibly get. Rose studied Jack's face very carefully for any sign he might wake up. She cradled his head in her lap. She refused to think about anything other then their time together and the future they were going to have. She did not know if Cal would survive, but if he did, he would never separate them. Rose decided she would die before she let that happen. Never again would she be separated from Jack Dawson. The tragic even occurring all around her was pushed out of her mind. All she cared about was this man who changed her life.

* * *

Several hours later, the sky adjusted from the black of the night to the pale dusty color of the morning sun just beginning to rise over the horizon. Rose drifted in and out of sleep. A low groan coming from Jack woke her up. He was finally waking up after he blacked out.

"Jack?" Rose nudged him a little.

"Hmm…" was her reply. Lethargically Jack drew out of his stupor. "Rose? Where… what…?"

"The Titanic sank, Jack. You fell into the lifeboat and passed out. You hit your head pretty bad. Is anything else hurting?"

"My arm…"

"You landed on it when you fell. It could be broken."

"Are we still drifting?"

"A couple of passengers spotted a rescue ship. We're on our way…. It'll just be a little longer and we'll get you something warm to wear, okay?"

"Mmm…" Jack fell asleep once more.

Jack had to be hoisted onto the Carpathia's deck by a sling. He was still unconscious once again and he couldn't have climbed with his arm in as much pain as it was. Rose accompanied him to the make shift hospital area on the ship. She located him a cup of hot soup and a dry blanket. She never left his side. The doctor confirmed her theory and wrapped Jack's arm up in bandages and gave him a sling to wear. When Jack was well enough, the two of them left the hospital ward and found a cozy, warm spot above on the deck on a deck chair and made themselves comfy. Rose lay with her head on Jack's chest, so tired but unwilling to close her eyes.

"Jack?" she asked.

"Yes, Rose?"

"How did you get in the lifeboat?"

Jack had to think about it a moment. His mind was still a little fuzzy as to how things happened, but he vaguely remembered how he came to be here with Rose.

"Lightoller stopped your boat on its way down. He said he needed more experienced men to help row. He asked me if I had any experience at all and before I could fully answer he had me sliding down the ropes. I'm not sure how exactly I fell."

"That doesn't matter. You're here now."

Jack analyzed Rose's stunning eyes for a fraction of a second before he spoke. What he told her then he was 100% positive of.

"Rose… you once told me that when the ship docked you were getting off with me. I am still batting on that because you see, well, you are my life now. I don't think I could live without you in it. I don't want to live without you in it. I never really believed in love until I saw you that first day on Titanic. I think I was meant to get in that boat with you, despite how it happened. You jump, I jump, right?"

Tears welled up in Rose's eyes. "Right…""I love you, Rose. I always will. I know I don't have a lot to offer you and that kills me, but having you in my life would make me the richest man in the world. Would you do me the greatest honor and marry me?"If Rose had been any other girl she would have been shocked. She knew Jack Dawson for a few short days but she already knew the answer to his question. She couldn't life without him, either. He was her lifeline, after all, and without she felt like she would cease to exist as the woman she'd become.

"Yes, Jack Dawson. I don't believe anything would make me more happy then to spend my life with you. I love you with all my heart."

The lovers kissed most ardently. They spent the rest of the afternoon on their deckchair until it was time to begin their disembarkation to their new life together.


End file.
